Recycle

America Recycles Day

Since 1997, communities across the country have come together on November 15 to celebrate America Recycles Day.

More than a celebration, America Recycles Day is the only nationally recognized day dedicated to the promotion of recycling programs in the United States. One day to inform and educate. One day to get our neighbors, friends and community leaders excited about what can be accomplished when we all work together. One day to make recycling bigger and better 365 days a year.

Through America Recycles Day, Keep America Beautiful and Keep Texas Beautiful, in partnership with the State of Texas Alliance for Recycling, are able to support local communities and raise awareness among all segments of the population.

Get Involved

There's no need to wait until November. Check out these helpful links to begin making a difference in your community today:

Carton Council

The Carton Council, formed in 2009, is a group of packaging companies seeking to reduce the environmental impact of cartons by expanding recycling programs across the country and continuously improving cartons’ environmental performance.

Through long-term collaborative solutions such as the promotion of recycling technology and local collection programs, the Carton Council strives to divert valuable cartons from landfills throughout the United States. In alliance with the Carton Council, Keep Texas Beautiful will strengthen its focus on waste reduction through the programs and knowledge that the Carton Council brings to our broad network of community affiliates.

Made mostly from paper, cartons are valuable for their paper fiber which plays a fundamental role in the creation of new products. Adding cartons to a recycling program increases waste diversion, reducing the need for disposal, and offers a potential revenue stream from the sale of cartons. Together, Keep Texas Beautiful and the Carton Council will foster efforts to utilize the carton as a renewable resource that can be used to make new products such as office paper, tissues and building materials.

Hoping to limit the number of cartons that become waste, Keep Texas Beautiful will provide carton recycling resources and training sessions to educate affiliates on the growth of carton recycling in Texas. “Carton Council is pleased to partner with Keep Texas Beautiful to expand carton recycling across the state,” Michele Wagner, regional representative with Carton Council. “We are especially excited to work with KTB affiliates as they are the driving force in so many Texas communities for recycling and waste reduction opportunities.”

In addition to educating the community, Keep Texas Beautiful hopes that the partnership will integrate carton recycling and encourage participation in various Keep America Beautiful recycling programs like America Recycles Day and Recycle-Bowl.

For more information about cartons and carton recycling, please contact Carton Council via email at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or visit our websites: www.recyclecartons.com for general information, and www.cartonopportunities.org for in depth information about adding cartons to your program.

Recycle-Bowl

Recycle-Bowl provides a tool for teachers, student green teams and facility service professionals to engage their K-12 school community in a fun and friendly way. Whether a school has an extensive recycling program or is just getting basic recycling collections off the ground, experience has shown that all schools have potential to increase their recycling rates.

Register. Recycle. Report.

Think your school has game? Register to enter the competition via the online form at www.Recycle-Bowl.org. To compete, your school will collect, track and then report your recyclable material during a four-week time frame from mid-October to mid-November.

Prizes

State Champions – The top school in each state that collects the most recyclable material (per capita) will win a $1,000 prize.

National Community Recycling Champion Schools – Involve your community! If your school collects recyclable material from around the community, this will be treated as a separate competition category. This category offers a $1,000 first prize, a $750 second prize and a $500 third prize.

National District Champion – School districts competing nationally against other school districts. There will be one national first-place $1,000 prize.

National Title – America’s Top Recycling School! An additional $1,000 and $2,500 in store credit from Busch Systems to top performer among the State Champions.

Key Dates

Questions? Please contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

RecycleMania

RecycleMania is a competition and benchmarking tool for collegiate recycling programs to promote waste reduction activities to their campus communities.

Over an 8-week period, schools report recycling and litter data, which is then ranked according to several criteria: the largest amount of recyclables collected (per capita), the total amount of recyclables collective, the least amount of trash (per capita) and the highest recycling rate per campus.

Winners of the 2017 RecycleMania have been announced. 2018 updates coming soon.

TexasRecyclesComputers.org

At the easy-to-use site, consumers select their computer brand on the list and then click on the manufacturer’s name to be redirected to the manufacturer’s recycling website. If a manufacturer is not on the list, TexasRecyclesComputers.org has other resources available to help recycles old computers. The website also contains downloadable resources to help promote computer recycling, such as ready-to-go articles and banner ads.

TexasRecyclesTVs.org

At the easy-to-use site, consumers select their television brand on the list, and then click on the manufacturer’s name to be redirected to the manufacturer’s recycling website. The website also contains downloadable resources to help promote television recycling.